Cheryl Dorsey

Family Van

Cheryl Dorsey
1992 Global Fellow

Bold Idea

Increase access to health and improve healthy behaviors by providing free culturally and linguistically appropriate health services to our clients in the community.

Organization

The Family Van provides free preventive health services, health education, and referrals to individuals in underserved neighborhoods across Boston. By going directly to the areas in which the need is greatest, the Van removes barriers to care and improves the health of Boston’s most vulnerable residents.

Biography

Cheryl Dorsey is President of Echoing Green, a pioneer in the social entrepreneurship movement. This global social venture fund has awarded over $30 million in start-up capital to over 500 next generation social entrepreneurs worldwide since 1987. Dorsey received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 1992 to help launch The Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit in Boston.

Dorsey has served in two presidential
administrations as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor (1997-98); Special Assistant to the Director of the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Labor Department (1998-99); Transition Team Member of the Innovation and Civil Society subgroup of the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Policy Working Group (2008-09); and Vice Chair for the President's Commission on White House Fellowships (2009-present).

Dorsey serves on several boards including the Harvard Board of Overseers, the SEED Foundation, and Northeast Bank. In 2009, Dorsey was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by US News & World Report and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. For 2010 and 2011, she was named as one of The Nonprofit Times' "Power and Influence Top 50."

Dorsey received her Bachelor's degree in History and Science magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and her Master's in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. She completed her pediatric residency at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

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